“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.”
Haile Selassie

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Fox 59 tried to set up a "Face Off" on the issue of the ACS deal. However, no administration official or council Republican would participate. This includes Mike Huber, the City's lead spokesperson for the deal. Finally, Fred Loughlin, a Vice-President of Indianapolis Downtown, was lined up to speak for the parking proposal. IDI, for those not familiar, is a non-profit which receives millions from the City, and in exchange, which rubber-stamps anything the administration chooses to do and leaves the false impression the "business community" supports those decisions. The Ballard administration though pulled the plug on Loughlin's participation in the segment. With no participation from the pro side, the segment had to be cancelled.

The whole scenario speaks volumes about the political unpopularity of the ACS 50 year no bid parking contract.

Yet, the fact the parking proposal is a clear political loser, it continues to be pushed. Today's Indianapolis Business Journal published a "letter to the editor" from Huber touting the deal. How pathetic is it thatat there are no "regular folks" willing to write a letter to the editor supporting the deal. Reading Huber's half-hearted effort in the IBJ, it appears that even his enthusiasm for the deal is gone.

Will ACS supporters (i.e. Loftus, Huber, etc.) finally admit they made a mistake and withdraw the proposal? Or will they instead insist that Republican councilors (and the Mayor) fall on the political sword, by twisting enough arms and making enough threats to get Council Republicans to approve the highly unpopular deal?

9 comments:

Fox 59 was going to have me face off with someone from the Ballard administration on its plan to spend millions more of our tax dollars to convert Central State into another sports complex. Ballard's folks pulled the plug on that one as well.

Joe Loftus is the city's chief statehouse lobbyist and a counselor to Mayor Greg Ballard. The city's lobbyist registration shows Joe Loftus as registered to lobby for ACS, the company Ballard chose to award the potentially billion dollar parking meter privatization to.Mitch Roob former vice president with ACS Inc. Roob was picked by Gov. Mitch Daniels to head Indiana's largest state agency, the Family and Social Services Administration where Roob was the former Secretary of FSSA - better known as the Welfare Slum. State Rep. Eric Turner and his son Paul Ezekiel Turner's company, was in negotiations to buy the former Jones Middle School from Marion Community Schools. The school board voted to sell the building for $350,000 to Mainstreet Capital Partners LLC, a joint venture between "Zeke" Turner and his father. after receiving nearly $200,000 a year from ACS, the property has been assessed in excess of $7 million.A guy named of "Skip" Stitt. I wonder what Skip is doing these days? Oh, you hadn't heard? An officer with ACS.Well, that explains why ACS gave its maximum allowable corporate donation of $5,000 to Daniels in 2008, and why Stitt gave $2,500 out of his own pocket. Campaign finance records also show $2,000 from Maryland native and ACS' Chief Operating Officer Tom Burlin. Why would a guy from Maryland give to an Indiana Governor?Then again, ACS wrote Governor Daniels a check for $5,000 in January of 2009. ACS also gave $2,000 each to the (R) Senate Majority Campaign Committee and the House Republican campaign committee, as well as $1,000 to the Indiana House Democratic Caucus.

"Now the new numbers have emerged with regard to the failed IBM deal, showing that the state spent $500 million on the failed deal, $442 million of which has gone directly to IBM as of the end of August. Guess where another $59 million has gone? That's right. To ACS." (nuvo)

If you want interesting insight into how ACS and FSSA have failed, google Carl Moldtham a few of the articles written of how Roob and his InBed Buddies treated a man trying to do the right thing.

Joe Loftus is the city's chief statehouse lobbyist and a counselor to Mayor Greg Ballard. The city's lobbyist registration shows Joe Loftus as registered to lobby for ACS, the company Ballard chose to award the potentially billion dollar parking meter privatization to.Mitch Roob former vice president with ACS Inc. Roob was picked by Gov. Mitch Daniels to head Indiana's largest state agency, the Family and Social Services Administration where Roob was the former Secretary of FSSA - better known as the Welfare Slum. State Rep. Eric Turner and his son Paul Ezekiel Turner's company, was in negotiations to buy the former Jones Middle School from Marion Community Schools. The school board voted to sell the building for $350,000 to Mainstreet Capital Partners LLC, a joint venture between "Zeke" Turner and his father. after receiving nearly $200,000 a year from ACS, the property has been assessed in excess of $7 million.A guy named of "Skip" Stitt. I wonder what Skip is doing these days? Oh, you hadn't heard? An officer with ACS.Well, that explains why ACS gave its maximum allowable corporate donation of $5,000 to Daniels in 2008, and why Stitt gave $2,500 out of his own pocket. Campaign finance records also show $2,000 from Maryland native and ACS' Chief Operating Officer Tom Burlin. Why would a guy from Maryland give to an Indiana Governor?Then again, ACS wrote Governor Daniels a check for $5,000 in January of 2009. ACS also gave $2,000 each to the (R) Senate Majority Campaign Committee and the House Republican campaign committee, as well as $1,000 to the Indiana House Democratic Caucus.

"Now the new numbers have emerged with regard to the failed IBM deal, showing that the state spent $500 million on the failed deal, $442 million of which has gone directly to IBM as of the end of August. Guess where another $59 million has gone? That's right. To ACS." (nuvo)

If you want interesting insight into how ACS and FSSA have failed, google Carl Moldtham a few of the articles written of how Roob and his InBed Buddies treated a man trying to do the right thing.

ENFORCEMENT PROCEEDINGS - SEC Charges Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. With Stock Options Backdating and False Disclosures:"The SEC's complaint, filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C., alleges that from 1995 to 2006, ACS engaged in a fraudulent and deceptive scheme to provide executives and other employees with undisclosed compensation."Above is a part of a recent into ACS.

Seriously folks let's get real.Public officials are supposed to be trustees of the commonweal, not politicalbuccaneers seeking their own private gain. But sometimes, in what economists call aprincipal-agent problem, those trustees forsake that obligation and misuse the powerdelegated to them in ways that advance their personal interests rather than those of thepublic.Corruption distorts the allocation of resources toward projects thatcan generate illicit payoffs. Besides the undesirable efficiency consequences arisingfrom this distortion, the effect is likely to aggravate social inequalities, because the poor and powerless suffer, by definition, a comparative disadvantage in securing special favors.If the $500,000 has to be paid if the City-County Council will not vote for the ACS deal. Pay ACS's political blackmail scheme and get them out of town. Like all the other commentaries together with articles I've been reading have showed, ACS is not the kind of corporation we want in our town. Political blackmail, special interests, conflict of interests, WHERES THE FBI? WHERES THE FEDS?Has anyone ever read ACS Ethical Standards they try to impose on their employees at the welfare office. Their employees aren't allowed to accept even a Christmas card. Yet the CEO's and Directors of this company have done just that.ACS is a shameful, unethical, disgraceful hypocrite, not to mention the so called "leaders" of Indianapolis for creating this mess.What an embarassment to our city.

About Me

I have been an attorney since the Fall of 1987. I have worked in every branch of government, including a stint as a Deputy Attorney General, a clerk for a judge on the Indiana Court of Appeals, and I have worked three sessions at the Indiana State Senate.
During my time as a lawyer, I have worked not only in various government positions, but also in private practice as a trial attorney handing an assortment of mostly civil cases.
I have also been politically active and run this blog in an effort to add my voice to those calling for reform.